The present invention relates to a frame assembly for a golf cart, and more particularly to a folding collapsible frame assembly for a golf cart.
Various golf carts have been disclosed having a folding collapsible frame assembly. Exemplars are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,249,822; 5,464,238; 5,582,372; 5,704,629. The telescopic and folding frame assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,822 includes a folding frame bar mounting structure and a telescopic drag bar mounting structure. The structure of telescopic and folding frame assembly is functional, however the procedure of collapsing the telescopic and folding frame assembly is complicated. Furthermore, the spring which retains the locking plate wear quickly with use. The angle-adjustable folding frame assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,238 includes a handle having a handle connector at one end pivoted to the handle bracket and wheel bracket on the main frame of a golf cart, a first locating member made to slide on the handle and having a positioning rod, a slide block connected to the first locating member and moved to slide on the handle connector, a spring stopped between the handle connector and the first locating member, and a second locating member affixed to the front end of the main frame and having two spaced retaining grooves for alternatively receiving the positioning rod of the first locating member in holding the handle in a first or second working position. The main drawback of the angle-adjustable folding frame assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,238 is that the parts tend to be moved to rub against one another during the movement of the golf cart, thereby causing a big noise to be produced. If the locating members are heavily oscillated, the mounting screws may fall from the folding frame assembly, causing the parts of the folding frame assembly to be damaged. The folding collapsible golf cart frame assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,372 includes a main shaft to hold two bag cradles, a handle bracket and a wheel holder bracket fixed to the main shaft, handle bar having a connecting block at one end pivoted to the handle bracket, two links pivotably connected between a wheel holder on the wheel holder bracket and the connecting block, a locating block fixed to the main shaft, a locking plate slidably mounted on the handle bar and having a retainer block for fastening to the locating block to hold the handle bar in the operative position, and two springs connected between the connecting block and the locking plate. This structure of folding collapsible golf cart frame assembly is complicated. The assembly process of the folding collapsible golf cart frame assembly takes much time to finish. The procedure of operating the folding collapsible golf cart frame assembly from the operative position to the collapsed manner is also complicated. The folding collapsible frame assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,629 is also complicated, and inconvenient to be set between the operative position and the collapsed position. Furthermore, according to the aforesaid conventional folding collapsible frame structures, the main shaft and the handle bar are not longitudinally aligned when set into the operative position. This drawback destroys the sense of beauty of the golf cart, and makes the size of the golf cart unable to be greatly reduced.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a folding collapsible frame assembly for a golf cart which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. According to one aspect of the present invention, the folding collapsible frame assembly comprises a main shaft holding an upper bag cradle and a lower bag cradle, a locating block pivotably mounted in an opening between two parallel walls of an upper bag cradle being fixedly fastened to a front end of the main shaft, a spring mounted in an opening in the upper bag cradle to support the locating block, a handle bracket pivoted to the upper bag cradle to hold a handle bar and turned about an axis between a first position where the handle bracket is received in a receiving chamber in the upper bag cradle to hold the handle bar the operative position and a locating flange of the handle bracket is forced into engagement with a locating groove on the locating block, and a second position where the locating flange of the handle bracket is disengaged from the locating groove of the locating block and the handle bracket is moved out of the receiving chamber and retained in parallel to the main shaft. According to another aspect of the present invention, the handle bar is retained in longitudinal alignment with the main shaft when the handle bracket is turned to the first position. According to still another aspect of the present invention, the locating flange of the handle bracket can be conveniently disengaged from the locating groove on the locating block by pressing down the locating block against the spring with one hand, enabling the handle bar to be turned with the handle bracket to the collapsed position.